Mike Hickey, an analyst at Janco Partners, has said that Activision will likely close Infinity Ward, after the completion of the second Modern Warfare 2 map pack. Hickey also predicted that Modern Warfare 3 will be handled by two separate development studios.

“Continued defections from their Infinity Ward studio have created meaningful uncertainty around the future of their Call of Duty: Modern Warfare franchise. We expect Infinity Ward studio will be essentially closed after their next map pack release, with development work on Modern Warfare 3 spread between two studios not historically tied to the franchise.”

The first Modern Warfare 2 map pack, Stimulus Package, hits PlayStation Network on May 4th for North America, followed by a May 5th release for PAL regions.